Last update: February 25th, 2021
“A vaccine certificate is on the agenda of the European Council”, said David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, at the EUCO press conference celebrated on February 25th.
The European representative believes it is key that regional authorities “come up with instruments so that we can have a mobility policy in place, which is just and non-discriminatory.”
Sassoli not only sees the vaccine certificate as a “mobility policy instrument”, but also as a “way of encouraging a reopening” of European countries.
However, its viability depends, among other factors, on the number of citizens that are vaccinated in the coming months.
The European Council is currently working on a challenging goal: vaccinating 70% of the adult population by summer.
The EP officer thinks COVID passports can “support an orderly and safe reopening of activities“, which includes economy and free movement.
Europe bets for a common approach on vaccine certificates
Both the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission are now coordinating their efforts even more to tackle the crisis.
Ursula von der Leyen asked EU leaders to “find a common approach to vaccination certificates, as summer nears”. To do so, a new task force between EP and EC officers has been announced.
Sassoli also recognized that certain errors have occurred when dealing with the purchase and distribution of vaccines across Europe.
“We have identified many weaknesses” and “need a qualitative leap, we need to act together”, said the president of the European Parliament.